of jbesey city



UNiTEn STATES PATENT OFFICEO H. H. DAY, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 5,543, dated May 2, 1848.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HORACE H. DAY, of Jersey City, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Manufacture of Fabrics Similar to Patent-Leath er and other Flexible Polished Fabrics; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full and exact description thereof.

My invention consists in the forming of flexible fabrics with a bright gloss, adapted to all the various purposes for which patent-leather,- japanned cloth, and other similar manufactures have been heretofore used, andfree from the liability to crack, peculiar to most fabrics of this nature, and at about half the cost.

The first part of my invention consists in coating the surface of gutta-percha in sheet,

' and fabrics made entirely of gutta-perchawith varnish, whereby I give it a luster and finish resembling japanned leather and other similar substances.

The second part of my invention is the combining cloth, canvas, felting, leather, and other fibrous material with gutta-percha and varnish for the production of fabrics adapted to dash-boards and other purposes for which heavy japanned leather has-heretofore been used.

In the manufacture of patent j apanned leather, canvas, and glazed cloths, now and heretofore in common use, it has been the practice and part of the necessary process to form the bodywith which the fibrous fabric is coated of Japan varnish to impart a smooth surface to the article, and then finish the surface, after successive dryings, until a fine luster is obtained. This process, which is done by hand with a brush, is both tedious and expensive, while the large body of varnish thus applied is liable to crack and peel off when in wear. My invention removes, to a great extent, all these objections, and produces a fabric at once elegant, durable, and cheap. be varnished requires to be figured or embossed, it is passed through the rollers for that purpose before receiving the finishing-coat of varnish. The machinery used for embossing is the common machinery used for embossing cloth or other fibrous substances, and consists mainly of two rollers and their side frames and running-gear.

To form the first part of my invention I take If the cloth to of I gutta-pereh, in the clean, ground, and masticated state, either pure or with coloring-matter mixed, and cover a glazed cloth with one or more coats of this substance until the de sired thickness is obtained. The best means of doing this is by the process well known to manufacturers of india-rubber, called spreading with the heat-ed calenders by successive layers or coats. These layings or coatings are repeated until the desired thickness is obtained. The fabric is now ready for the second process or coat. This is accomplished by reducing a portion of gutta-percha to a soft paste or semi-fluid state by mixing therewith any of the known menstruums or solvents of guttapercha, and combining therewith an equal portion, by weight, of Japan varnish, such as is used to form patent-leather. These are well mixed together by the india-rubbergrinding mill and spread with cold rollers upon the body of gutta-percha. This is left to dry for a few hours, when it is to be calendered, and is then ready for japann in In this last or finishing process the same course is pursued as in finishing patent-leather. The article is then subjected to a high degree of heat in close ovens to dry the polishing or facing coat and blend the two lamime together. I proceed to finish my fabric by applying a thin coating of oil-varnishsuch as is commonly used in the manufacture of p atent-leatherusing any such as will answer the purpose, and finish the fabric by drying the varnish in an oven, or exposed to the sun, when the fabric is readycto be peeled off from the muslin on which it is formed, and is ready for use. Iwould remark here that the gutta-percha may be first made up into articles-such as shoes, bottles, saddles, harnessindeed into all articles of a flexible character, and the finishing coat be applied with a brush, and submitted to heat to impart to them therequired gloss.

The second part of my invention is made by spreading with machinery before mentioned cloth of cotton, flax, silk, or other suitable fibrous substances with one or more coats of gutta-percha, and in the forming of dashes and other similar stock, I use as a bottom, inside, or foundation a coarse cotton burlap, which is coated with guttapercha, then a piece of fine el0thsuch as common muslin coated with gutta-perchaand stuck fast to the foundation, rolling through heated rollers.

When this is done I proceed to apply the top or finishing coat of gutta-peroha preparatory to the finishing process. In applying'this L sometimes use a cement of gutta-percha, or gutta-p'erchacompounds, to the two plies of cloth before mentioned to prepare the surface of the cloth for the hard pasty mass of gutta-percha which is to form the body or smooth surface of my fabric. Thishardpaste is then rolled upon the fabric through the calenders before mentioned when it is to be treated and finished according to the manner described for the first part of my invention.

Having described my invention and the best means known to me of preparing the same, I hereby. declare that I do not claim any particular way of combining gutta-percha with cloth,

or of combining these or either of them with.

The finishing or treating of cloth or otherarticles madewholly or partly of guttaperoha, and cloth or fabrics made of these, with Japan varnish, such as is generally usedin the manufacture of patent-leather substantially as herein described.

HORACE DAY.

NVitnesses:

A. D. VVYoKoFF, FREDK. WAGNER. 

